Western Railroad Discussion > MRL Montana Branchline

From the summer of 2016 here are three images of the MRL  Harrison Subdivision.It took some effort that summer but I finally was able to capture the unique line.The last shot is at the very end of the branch and looks to be a former wye.Maybe someone can confirm.Bill Webb 

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Cool shots, that first one is sweet!

Posted from iPhone

Very nice job.
JB

The branch is registry territory. Mark-in, mark-out.  Been fortunate to participate in several motorcar excursions on the branch. There's a herd of horses almost to the top of the hill that like to play "chicken" with us.

Keith in Roseburg

> The last shot is at the very end of the branch and looks to be a former wye. Maybe
> someone can confirm. Bill Webb 

That last shot is at the south end of Harrison, facing south. The branch continued on south across Norwegian Creek and down to the end of the line in the town of Norris where there was a wye. From the same point as the last photo there was also another branch line heading southwest to the mining town of Pony.

steeplecab

steeplecab Wrote:
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> > The last shot is at the very end of the branch
> and looks to be a former wye. Maybe
> > someone can confirm. Bill Webb 
>
> That last shot is at the south end of Harrison,
> facing south. The branch continued on south across
> Norwegian Creek and down to the end of the line in
> the town of Norris where there was a wye. From the
> same point as the last photo there was also
> another branch line heading southwest to the
> mining town of Pony.

From the property lines in Harrison, there was a wye at one time or at least the railroad owned the property for a wye.  Possibly a south leg of a wye was planned but was never built.  In any case, buildings have been constructed on that property now.

So how'se the night life in Harrison? Great shots, you know how much I hate branchlines.

Out

Number 403 has a flat spot on the nose similar to the D&RGW where the oscillating light would have been.  I can only think of a few RR's that had that flat spot, D&RGW, WP and KCS.  Are these ex-KCS diesels or another company?

Cheers, Jim

Have fond memories of Pony, thanks for ringing my bell. More importantly. thanks to the O P for a fine set of photos. d

Thanks for posting! These images bring back some fond memories. And I might add, I know getting those shots took some effort. I worked that Harrison branch a couple of times off the Livingston Engr's extra board. I never got any photos because both runs were at night. The job was like an adventure in mountain climbing. As I recall there are 2 separate spots part way up the virtual mountain where a crew has to stop and open a range fence to get through. And they had to be closed again behind when you proceeded on. The elevator serviced at Harrison has a run-around track, hence the back-to-back power. And even with 2 units, when you took a couple of loaded grain hoppers back down the mountain, the 2.2%(?) grade certainly made you pay attention! Of course, you had to repeat fence thing on the way back down. That little run was a nice diversion from the usual helper gigs we worked off the Livingston board...

Lance/199 

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> Number 403 has a flat spot on the nose similar to
> the D&RGW where the oscillating light would have
> been.  I can only think of a few RR's that had
> that flat spot, D&RGW, WP and KCS.  Are these
> ex-KCS diesels or another company?
>
> Cheers, Jim

MRL 403 was built as DRGW 3039

Too bad you never worked the local in the daylight.  Would have appreciated the pictures.

Did you ever work south in Livingston towards Emigrant ?  When did they take that line out?